Readings:
Sermon:
John the Baptist appears in the gospel reading again today and calls people to get ready to receive Christ. He is in eloquent form and he is not always polite. Urging his listeners to share what you have; your clothes, your food. Don’t collect more than you have to; deal honestly and fairly with each other. Be content with what you have; don’t accuse people falsely and don’t blackmail. These calls are challenging indeed.
And yet this Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent which also known as Gaudete or ‘rejoice’. Rejoice because the Epistle reading for today starts with that word. So today is a mixture of rejoicing and preparation for encounter afresh with Emmanuel (God with us), who will be born as a child in just over a week’s time.
As well as urging changed behaviour, John the Baptist describes the need to be baptised as committing to a journey with Jesus.
Journey is a popular word and so much can be thought of in that kind of language: eg. my weight loss journey, my grief journey, my journey to health and wellbeing, my school life journey, my faith journey.
A Christian journey is enacted in every service without even thinking about it. Entering through the door is entering into sacred space and passing the font which stands as a reminder of baptism. In the Nave the congregation gathers and is led in worship. There is an area for reading and preaching the Word often followed by a time of focused prayer for ourselves, the world and the God’s church. Then comes Communion and a meeting with Christ in blessing, in bread and in wine. At the ending all are sent out to share what has been received with those outside the building. A task not just for leaders but everyone. Doing ‘church’ should equip us for the week, not be the moment to dust our hands off and say that’s the God bit over for seven days.
The Church of England itself is journeying…..reflected in changing services. Started by Henry VIII, the Book of Common Prayer was used in services for centuries, then came the ASB, and since 2000, Common Worship. Whatever the words are used, God is still in worship and journeying with congregations through it.
Journeys are everywhere when you think about it.
Aging is a journey in time. God is outside time: bigger than this journey
Travel is a journey in space as location changes. God is outside space: bigger than this journey
Journey into ‘self’ with God. God is bigger than this journey: holding us on the way and the ‘ground of our being’
One more journey to consider is that of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. To the stable. They had to make this journey. And God was literally very much in this one. God chose to lay aside time, and space to be born as a human being. Jesus. To be born into a family on a certain date in Judea, Bethlehem. Known as the scandal of particularity.
A scandalous journey that changed everything…forever.
And through this birth, life, death and resurrection Christians now know our ultimate destination is with God forever. Nothing can separate us from that divine love, as St Paul tells us.
And so my prayer today is that this last week of Advent and the Christmas season following, may be filled with good food, friendship, fun and the odd glass or two of something nice, but also that it will be for each of us a place of profound journeying with God…..and that in 2025 together all may dare to speak of it and journey some more. Amen.
Questions:
- Which of John the Baptist’s calls do you find most challenging in your day to day journey?
- What steps might you take to move towards answering that call?
- When you next attend a church service – be attentive to the journey that God has taken you on during the service. What insights have you gained on that journey for the week ahead?